Eric Jou

A Chinese man in the northern Shandong province of China sold off 38 kilograms worth of gold bars to fund his online gaming habit. In order to explain why the family fortune was suddenly missing, he went to the police to report that he was robbed.

Midday on July 30th, the man, surnamed Yan, reported to police that he had been robbed of 6 million yuan ($941,706 US) worth of gold. When police arrived at the scene, the only fingerprints to be found were that of the Yan. Suspicious of the Yan's claims, police scoured local cctv cameras and found out that Yan never visited a bank that could handle transactions in gold.

After detaining Yan and talking to his family, the police discovered the truth. The Yan's uncle, a Mr. Zhong, had invested in 38 kg worth of gold bars a year ago and passed it onto his nephew for safekeeping. Mr. Zhong then contacted Yan in early July asking him to sell some of the bars because he needed cash. Unable to come up with cash the nephew reported a false robbery.

So what exactly happened to the money? During the year that the gold was under the care of the nephew, he had systematically withdrawn the gold, exchanged it for cash, and spent said cash on an online game in China. He had spent all the money trying to purchase a set of "legendary" in game equipment.

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Yan is currently in jail awaiting judgment on his crimes of both stealing and filing a false police report.